Now we need to do research on all prescriptions before we accept them from our doctor. Evidently when a prescription is harmful it is left on the market, even if FDA approval is revoked.
Several years after declaring it to be not only medically useless but
also dangerous, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has officially
withdrawn approval for the $100,000 breast cancer drug Avastin. In a
statement, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that Avastin has never
been proven to be safe or effective, but also in the same breath noted
that doctors can still prescribe the drug if they feel like it.
"FDA
recognizes how hard it is for patients and their families to cope with
metastatic breast cancer and how great a need there is for more
effective treatments," Hamburg is quoted as saying by
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "But patients must have confidence that the drugs they take are both safe and effective for their intended use."
After
being rapidly approved for use by the FDA back in 2007, Avastin quickly
generated more than $1.7 billion for its producer Genentech within the
first year. When the FDA finally got around to actually reviewing the
drug
after approving it, though, the agency discovered that
Avastin does not lengthen the lives of breast cancer patients, and that
it carries with it severe side effects that include death.
In
her 69-page report on Avastin, Hamburg wrote that Avastin's side
effects include high blood pressure, bleeding, heart attack or heart
failure, and the development of perforations in the nose, stomach and
intestines. In at least one case, a patient taking Avastin has died from
infection.
But the way the FDA is handling the situation shows
how blatantly biased it is towards the drug industry. Avastin was proven
dangerous and ineffective several years ago, but the FDA allowed it to
remain on the market. Now, it has decided to withdraw approval for
Avastin, but is still allowing it to remain on the market.
If
Avastin had been a dietary supplement in the same predicament, the
agency would have immediately withdrawn its approval (if it would have
approved it in the first place), and demanded that it be removed from
the market. The agency likely would have also shut down Avastin's
manufacturer, as it has done a lot worse to supplement companies that
produce safe and effective natural treatments.
Sources for this article include:http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNew...
